0

"Lying there with their eyes wide open! Cold as ice! Still in their dinner things!" 

. . .

All the villagers cared about was the identity of their murderer -- for plainly, three apparently healthy people did not all drop dead of natural causes on the same night. 

The village pub did a roaring trade that night; the whole village seemed to have turned out to discuss the murders. They were rewarded for leaving their firesides when the Riddles' cook arrived dramatically in their midst and announced to the suddenly silent pub that a man called Frank Bryce had just been arrested. 

Harry potter and the goblet of fire

Does the sentence including leave mean "villagers gathered in the pub were rewarded for leaving their own houses' firesides? (cause they could find out who the murderer was).

Or does that mean "villagers were rewarded for leaving the firesides at the pub"? Then what does that mean?

1
  • 2
    My reading is the first: the villagers were rewarded for leaving the comfort of being by the fire in their own houses, and the reward was the entertainment of learning who the murderer was. The word "fireside" strikes me as old-fashioned, but maybe fitting for the setting. Jan 28, 2018 at 2:55

1 Answer 1

1

It is certainly the first. The word 'fireside' does not literally mean that all the villagers had fires to keep them warm. It is a metaphor for the comfort of their homes, for quiet domestic contentment.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .